The invention relates generally to display screens for three-dimensional display systems, and to display systems which employ such display screens.
Multiplanar three-dimensional (hereinafter "3-D") displays produce 3-D imagery by illuminating a target surface undergoing periodic motion. FIG. 1 shows an example of such a target. In operation, display target 1 rotates (or "sweeps") about axis 2 through a 3-D display volume 4. One or more light sources (not shown) are used to project one-dimensional (hereinafter "1-D") or two-dimensional (hereinafter "2-D") images onto surfaces 5 and 6 of display target 1 as it rotates. These images, coupled with the persistence of human vision, cause a volume-filling (or "volumetric") 3-D image 7 to be perceived by a viewer as display target 1 rotates.
Conventional multiplanar 3-D displays produce "edge-on" dark regions wherever sections of the display target are coplanar with a viewer's line of sight. FIG. 2, which is a top view of display target 1, illustrates this phenomenon. As shown, a viewer at location 9 will perceive a dark region in a resulting 3-D image due to insufficient light emanating from the screen in the viewer's line of sight 8.